WWII veteran holds Navy shipmates, family close to heart

By Katie Collins Brush News-Tribune Staff Writer

Posted:
11/10/2015 08:41:06 AM MST

Updated:
11/10/2015 08:42:34 AM MST

United States Navy and World War II Veteran David Lenox, of Fort Morgan, stands proudly beside a wall hanging that honors his WWII Navy ammunition carrier, the U.S.S. Rainier, which the Akron-born man served on from 1942 - 1945 during it's travels to service the U.S. Pacific fleet ships. The 90-year-young husband of Frances and father of eight was recently honored with distinguished priase for his service and sacrifices by local organization, Hospice of the Plains, through their "We Honor Veterans" partnership. (Katie Collins/News-Tribune)

Keeping close ties with his military past and connecting with a full-house that includes eight children and wife of 67 years, Frances, is near and dear to Fort Morgan resident and WWII Veteran David Lenox who, at 90-years-young, retains fresh recollections and fond memories of a life that took the Akron-born boy all the way around the South Pacific in a an ammunition ship known as the U.S.S. Rainier. At just 16-years old, the fresh-faced middle child was inspired by the feats of his older brother who had joined the Navy pre-World War II and decided to take his chances in enlisting as soon as he could. “I tried to get in when I was 16,” David confessed. “My brother’s tales inspired me early on, but this recruiter we knew wouldn’t take me at first. When I turned 17 I was working for the railroad in Akron and I came home one night to find him waiting there for me. He took me to Sterling and they sent me on a train to Denver from there. I went through all the bells and whistles of signing up,” reminisced Lenox with a grin, “but when they got down to fingerprinting me, they noticed I was missing two fingers.”Lenox had lost the duo of digits in a motorscooter accident years before, but insisted the injury would have no affect on his ability to fight for his country. The recruiters let the injury slide back in 1942 and in no time Lenox found himself aboard what would become his second home, the U.S.S. Rainier, an auxiliary and explosives ammunition carrier, bound for Pearl Harbor.

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“It took us a month to get there, unload and come back,” said Lenox. “We weren’t stateside for more than a month when we left again. We were loaded with a bit of everything from torpedoes, shells, small stores…anything and everything that could go to the war effort. As I recall,” he finished, “we made three trips to Pearl.”At his Fort Morgan residence today, posters and pictures of an updated version of his old friend, the U.S.S. Rainier, line the walls of Lenox’ office along with snapshots of the crew he spent three years and two months on who still take time to gather together for reunions each year for the past 30 years. Built as a merchant ship, the Rainier turned cargo hauler as the Navy took charge and as Lenox relates, there were little photos available of the craft at the time. From trips to the Guadalcanal to voyages to the Phillipines and on the infamously stealthy Ulithi Island, near Okinawa and Japan, where the Rainier and others in the fleet fell prey to a typhoon Lenox recalls vividly for the roar of the rolling waves and the lives of the many men lost to the storm, his Navy career carried the Colorado native throughout the Pacific during a precocious era for any boat navigating the waters. Though fraught with the possibilities of peril, Lenox relates that the Rainier and his crew never saw any action, but came close to the areas that did. Near Ulithi he recalls a moment when the Rainier was stationed to service the fleet. “An oil tanker came in that morning and as I was sitting on the gunwhale drinking coffee, I was watching them come in, when a submarine came and sank that oil tanker in the harbor. They had been running around there for 2 days looking for that sub, and finally found it under an aircraft carrier.”The closest the Rainier came, according to Lenox, was near Saipan. “They could have hit us,” said Lenox. “We were sitting in plain sight of a Japanese drone plane and they got close. Those planes laid a couple of bombs near us.”Even with the devastation of the post-war typhoon that Lenox so vividly recalls, including memories of he and his crew attempting to catch and grab guys as they floated by, with one youth snagged from the perilous sea with a cane fender just in time, he notes with pride that, “All through the service we never lost a guy, and we come up one to the good. So I would say, we were about the luckiest ship in the Navy.”Lenox and the sturdy 350-person crew of the U.S.S. Ranier spent nine months in the Ulithi area and spent much time near the Phillipines as the war wound down. Lenox returned to Colorado after the war, but the crew of the Rainier became a tight-knit family even after, hosting lavish reunions throughout the country, with the 2015 affair numbering as the ship’s 32nd annual. “I’ve been to 16 of the last 19 reunions,” said Lenox as he perused through pictures of the past. Lenox returned to his Colorado roots at the age of 20. His time in the service ended in 1945 and Lenox recalls just how that end played out. “By September of ’45 the Rainier moved to Leyte Gulf where it continued to supply ships in the Pacific fleet. The entire harbor lit up when the war ended,” Lenox recalled. “The next day, there was an aircraft carrier sitting there.”After the war, visiting his parents in Indiana for a time before bringing them back to Colorado where he worked for nearly 5 years before marrying his wife, Frances Puccini, on July 30, 1948. Lenox moved on to own a body shop in Yuma for nearly 5 years before working at the lumber yard in Sterling for 17 years. He then ran a lumber yard in McCook for a few years as well before making a home of Fort Morgan where he spent 15 years working construction for Schmeeckle Bros. Construction. The couple created a colossal crew of their own soon after getting hitched in Winchester, Indiana, with their family brood including eight children; seven girls and one boy that came into the world in order from their oldest Betty to Karen, Judy, Rosie, Wanda, Darline, Patty and finally their boy David. The family continues to grow to include innumerable grandchildren that Lenox would only estimate as over 50, and a multitude of great-grandchildren who still get a great deal of joy listening to grandpa’s tales from the Pacific. Lenox has since received a Civic Award for his work in the Fort Morgan community, which, when asked, Lenox will attempt to misdirect in most humble fashion, and was absolutely honored and amazed at being chosen to attend the Honor Flight of Northern Colorado’s Washington D.C. Memorial tour trip. “That was the best flight I’ve ever been on. They had everything in lineMore recently the Navy Veteran was honored by Hospice of the Plains, an organization that serves over six counties throughout Northeastern Colorado, providing palliative care focused on making a person as comfortable as possible by managing the symptoms of the disease they suffer from. The goal, for Hospice of the Plains staff and counselors, is to maximize the person’s quality of life and provide support for patients as well as family members throughout. Hospice of the Plains nurses and volunteers work for the non-profit organization to provide compassionate physical, emotional and spiritual care for the terminally ill, comfort for the grieving and education for the communities served. Through the “We Honor Veterans” program, a part of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) in collaboration with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Hospice staff and volunteers regularly pay tribute to patients who dual as military veterans with help and even distinguished honors, such as that given to World War II Navy Veteran David Lennox, a hospice patient suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). “We Honor Veterans” invites hospices, state hospice organizations, Hospice-Veteran Partnerships and VA facilities to join a pioneering program focused on respectful inquiry, compassionate listening and grateful acknowledgment. By recognizing the unique needs of America’s veterans and their families, community providers, in partnership with VA staff, will learn how to accompany and guide them through their life stories and toward a more peaceful ending. According to their website at wehonorveterans.org, 1 out of every 4 dying Americans is a veteran.More than 1,800 Veterans die every day in this country and the vast majority of them die in the community, meaning that every hospice is probably caring for Veterans. Given that the ratio of VA facilities to hospice agencies is about 1:32, most community hospices and VA staff do not have one-on-one relationships with each other. “We Honor Veterans” encourages these partnerships and is available to individuals, patients or family and friends, who find need for help in any form. More information on their program can be found online at www.wehonorveterans.org. For Hospice of the Plains, Inc. staff, the ability to acknowledge and honor America’s military heroes and provide them with the dignity and comfort they have fought for during their final days, makes partnering with “We Honor Veterans” and other community organizations and individuals extremely important. Hospice of the Plains provides services for counties in Colorado including Logan, Morgan, Phillips, Sedgwick, Washington and Yuma, as well as the eastern border of Weld and northern border of Kit Carson counties.Resources on many aspects of hospice care, including on in-home services, long-term care and even 24/7 on-call support can be found by contacting them online at www.hospiceoftheplains.org, or by calling them the Sterling base office 970-526-7901.

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